Module 6
DESIGN Communication Charlene Schembri B. A . (Hons) Graphic Design & Interactive Media
CONT ents 01 TASK ONE 03 DEVELPOMENTS 05 CHARYAPADA SHOTS 07-08SERIES OF FOUR POSTERS 09MALTESE GLYPHS 11 SPREADS-DESIGN PROCESS 13DIGITAL SPREADS15 ITINERARY RESEARCH & EXPLORATION 17 TASK TWO 18 ITINERARY CONCEPT 1 19-20 CONCEPTS 2 & 3 21 TASK THREE
TASK one
"A typeface is an alphabet in a straightjacket" The aim of this unit was to engage with the basic form of the letters. It gave me the opportunity to explore such forms in detail through visual experimental approaches, contributing to the construction in visual communication. This unit started off by browsing the decodeunicode website, observing all the characters available in every language. Following that, I continued by looking at 5 non-Latin writing systems that interested me the most to further develop new characters. Amongst all those writings, CJK Strokes, Kangxi Radicals, Bengali and Phags PA drew my attention that I decided to explore deeper its origins and history. Having to choose only one from these systems, I chose Bengali.
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Evolving in 1000-1200CE, this writing system is mostly used in South Asia (Bangladesh). It is the 6th most spoken language having a total of 230 million speakers, 193 million being native speakers. Its cursive script formation makes it quite eye catching to study. Having 52 consonants and 12 vowels, made it rather hard to choose only 10 to further explore and develop in detail. Almost each letter has a swirl movement and a line across. Considering these characteristics, I manipulated these forms in a new typeface. I kept the rounded edges and the horizontal lines but developed them to an extent that the lines where thicker at some point and where the character were rounded, I edged them to a point. Being satisfied with the outcome, I hade to stencil out these 10 manipulated characters. Having such a unique outline, sometimes it was somewhat impossible to stencil on thick materials. So I’ve decided to cut them out from cardboard material and coat them with gold spray to make them more appealing. Having finished from that exploratory exercise, I went on to design a series of posters to promote this new typeface. Before leading to one final outcome, I looked at which type of medium suits best this piece of design. Burnt clay and copper, and the Charyapada were two favored materials native people use to write on. Being tight with deadlines, I preferred to use the Charyapada technique. This is simply a palm-leaf manuscript used in the 7th/8th century. It is simply constructed by having strips of dried palm-leaf on top of each other, all compiled together. The front was usually made from a more durable leafy material.
Not having that kind of material, I opted for thin strips of wood. I kept in mind the colour used and varnished the top and bottom strip for a more satisfying and attractive look. In all I had 12 strips, jotting down each letter on a separate strip. I was pleased with the outcome but wanted to develop this design at a higher level. For the poster, we were restricted with an A1 size. Working with such a sizeable dimensions, this time I wanted these characters to take an opposite feel of what this typeface had to offer. The first approach was inspired from its historical origins, now I wanted to represent the same characters in a more modern graphical impression. Having curved and lined characters, the presentation had to be somewhat clean. Keeping in mind the palm-leaf material, I downloaded a palmleaf texture to be placed behind these characters. Till now the characters were observed as a solid feature, so for this approach I inverted them to outlines. It took a different feel and became more characterized. As I was going on with my experimentations, I decided to band them into four groups to produce a series of 4 posters, each revealing 3 to 4 letters at once. The palm-leaf background was darkened so that these characters would stand out even more. Being inspired from David Carson, the grouped characters were layered on top of each other, all having the colours perceived in Bangladesh’s national flag. At first glance, such attempts were seen as a confused and irregular form but looking at them for a period of time, one could reveal all the characters present.
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To portray each letter that was represented, I depicted all characters in white, relatively small at the bottom to even balance out the whole design.
developments of stencils and spraying shots
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Stencil cut outs
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Opening the Charyapada
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Detailed shot
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A series of 4 posters
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After exploring in detail a non-Latin font, we had to research Maltese special characters. Counting the upper and lower case, there are eight characters in all. Just by having a dot on these characters
Ġ ġ
Ż
Ċ
I wasn’t struck by the available typefaces found around Naxxar. Seeing the
Ħ ħ
according to the typeface chosen, made this exercise more enjoyable. Going around the streets of Naxxar, I photographed various house and street names. With the available images, I was able to find 22 glyphs. Cropping each letter to a 15 cm size, I was able to devise these glyphs in three categories – classical, tolerable and intolerable. Doing this exercise in class, I got different opinions even sometimes disagreeing with other which character has its best and worst aesthetic qualities.
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ż
ċ
Maltese glyphs
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Adding the text was quite easy. I interpreted the image into text. Finding the right quote that I was looking for made it suitable to move forward in creating double page spreads that incorporates both text and imagery. Such spreads required being hand-made, understanding the composition’s value. After several experiments, I selected 4 that were better amongst the others. Being inspired from constructivism, black white and red were the main characteristics present in every spread design. I worked with coloured, greyscale, black and white and posterised imagery. With regarding the text, I used different point sizes and fonts, printed on diverse paper. Working this exercise hand-made, the result was more satisfying rather than working digitally. Sometimes working in this manner a different approach is taken, being more pleased with the work you were able to produce.
Typography can take a different spectrum when images are added. This exercise demanded the use of text with imagery. We needed to select a locality from Malta. Naxxar was the area I had chosen. Photographing curios places, I gathered 10 images that would be adjusted with type. . Looking at all the images, I selected the best one that I personally thought of expanding my ideas visually. I enlarged part of the image to have more fine details and not easily recognizable.
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Design process Selection of text and images
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Digital spread design experimentation
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Mainly this assignment is to study the arrangement of type, putting it into practice in the production of an editorial project – A Visitor’s Itinerary. I started such explorations with an intense research of existing itineraries from local as well as foreign localities. I’ve searched from both aspects – printed booklet as well as interactive itinerary applications. This researched helped me to study and analyze the design and visual content present. Such information was presented in a booklet, explaining each and every element that is merged into an editorial design.
images
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images
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TASK two "Form creates the content."
For this task, I teamed up with Francelle and Georganette to come up with three itinerary concepts. After a lot of brainstorms and which locality to choose, we agreed to propose a printed itinerary for Marsaxlokk. Further brainstorm was done on how to portray this locality. We decided to portray Marsaxlokk through its people. The fishing, fish cuisine, luzzu and market are the main identities that make this locality different from the others. After settling the locality, we
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moved on the design part. We each took a concept but were restricted to certain guidelines. Francelle handled the logo creation, while georganette and I started exploring the different approaches for an appealing itinerary design. Finishing the logo, we all started on layout composition and imagery placement. Since the logo had three colours involved, we all stuck with that colour scheme in our designs. As a result we produced four concept ideas, all unique but having a few elements in common.
Concept One
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Concept Two
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Concept Threee
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TASK three
"Creative thinking inspires ideas. Ideas inspire change."
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Evolving in 1000-1200CE, this writing system is mostly used in South Asia (Bangladesh). It is the 6th most spoken language having a total of 230 million speakers, 193 million being native speakers. Its cursive script formation makes it quite eye catching to study. Having 52 consonants and 12 vowels, made it rather hard to choose only 10 to further explore and develop in detail. Almost each letter has a swirl movement and a line across. Considering these characteristics, I manipulated these forms in a new typeface. I kept the rounded edges and the horizontal lines but developed them to an extent that the lines where thicker at some point and where the character were rounded, I edged them to a point. Being satisfied with the outcome, I hade to stencil out these 10 manipulated characters. Having such a unique outline, sometimes it was somewhat impossible to stencil on thick materials. So I’ve decided to cut them out from cardboard material and coat
Not having that kind of material, I opted for thin strips of wood. I kept in mind the colour used and varnished the top and bottom strip for a more satisfying and attractive look. In all I had 12 strips, jotting down each letter on a separate strip. I was pleased with the outcome but wanted to develop this design at a higher level. For the poster, we were restricted with an A1 size. Working with such a sizeable dimensions, this time I wanted these characters to take an opposite feel of what this typeface had to offer. The first approach was inspired from its historical origins, now I wanted to represent the same characters in a more modern graphical impression. Having curved and lined characters, the presentation had to be somewhat clean. Keeping in mind the palm-leaf material, I downloaded a palmleaf texture to be placed behind these characters. Till now the characters were observed as a solid feature, so for this approach I inverted them to outlines. It took a different feel and became more characterized. As I was going on with my experimentations, I decided to band them into four groups to produce a series of 4 posters, each revealing 3 to 4 letters at once. The palm-leaf background was darkened so that these characters would stand out even more. Being inspired from David Carson, the grouped characters were layered on top of each other, all having the colours perceived in Bangladesh’s national flag. At first glance, such attempts were seen as a confused and irregular form but looking at them for a period of time, one could reveal all the characters present.
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